Editorial Editorial (December 05, 2003)

If you like taxes, you'll love March 2 If you like taxes, you'll love March 2 (December 05, 2003)

If you like higher taxes and bridge tolls, you'll really appreciate the upcoming March 2 ballot where voters in Pleasanton and beyond will be asked to approve a wide range of bond, parcel tax and sales tax measures. With today the deadline for placing these measures on the March ballot, boards, agencies and councils have been scurrying to get their proposals filed on time. Despite seeking millions of dollars in new taxes, local and county authorities will still have a hard time topping Gov. Schwarzenegger's plan to float a $15 billion debt consolidation bond in March. A consolation is that he would delay at least until November Proposition 55, a $12 billion school construction bond that was already set to go to voters. At press time, the governor and his Democrat-dominated Legislature are still arguing the merits of placing Schwarzenegger's deficit bond measure and spending cap proposal on the March ballot. Either way, the state must find billions of dollars to reduce the deficit and maintain essential state services. Already concerned over state funding cutbacks, other government jurisdictions will be asking voters to support their own tax measures in the March primaries. They include:

• Chabot-Las Positas College district - Trustees are advancing a $497 million bond measure to pay for new facilities and upgrades at their two campuses in Hayward and Livermore. The bond, which needs approval of more than 55 percent of the voters, would raise annual property taxes by approximately $20 per $100,000 of assessed property values.

• Alameda County - Supervisors have authorized a March ballot measure that would add a half-cent sales tax countywide to fund health care. If at least two-thirds of voters approve the proposal, Alameda County would have the highest sales tax in the state at 8.75 percent. Supervisors say the tax is needed because of state funding cutbacks that are causing reductions in services to county hospitals in Oakland and San Leandro and three clinics - in Oakland, Newark and Hayward.

• Livermore Unified School District - Trustees on Tuesday placed a parcel tax proposal on the March ballot that would cost $98 per parcel, raising $2.5 million annually to fund both salaries and programs at the financially beleaguered school system. Earlier this year, the Alameda County Office of Education appointed a fiscal advisor for the district because its cash reserves fell below state requirements. The proposed parcel tax, which would apply to all properties in Livermore, both commercial and residential, would also be assessed against approximately 15 percent of the homes in Pleasanton's Ruby Hill community, which are within the Livermore school district boundaries. Requiring approval by two-thirds of those voting, the tax would last for five years. Households owned and occupied by senior citizens would be exempt.

• Dublin Unified School District - The school board approved Nov. 19 a parcel tax proposal that also will go to voters March 2. It would collect $180 each year for seven years, exempting senior citizens, raising approximately $1.8 million in new revenue for the district. Although the board also considered placing a $68 million bond measure on the same ballot, a voter survey showed most would support one or the other, but not both. To pass, a parcel tax requires favorable votes from two-thirds of those voting, compared to just over 55 percent for school bond measures.

• Bridge tolls - Although not a tax specifically, all regional bridge tolls, except for the Golden Gate, would be raised by $1 if voters approve measures being placed on ballots in seven Bay Area counties, including Alameda, on March 2. The ballot measure, which was approved by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, would raise an estimated $120 million annually to fund transportation projects and traffic congestion relief in the seven counties.
The risk, of course, is that with these and many more Bay Area tax measures on the March 2 ballot, voters may reject them all regardless of their merit. Or voters who may like a local ballot measure may vote favorably on the others as well, endorsing a huge additional tax burden on a state and even some local jurisdictions that are nearing fiscal insolvency.

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